Achievement First reviews

TIRs are supposed to be trained to become headteachers. In my experience, I was not trained to become a headteacher. Instead, I felt that I was put in classrooms to give teachers an opportunity to prep. So students would do math work on the computer during these "teaching opportunities". Overall, I feel that I did not learn how to become a headteacher. Some students have behaviors, which I was fine with. The issue is that leadership put me, a new teacher in a classroom of 28 students with no support and no idea how to handle behaviors. I felt that I was failing the students because I had not been equipped with information on how to help deescalate students. The work culture is very strong, which is both a pro and a con. You are asked to do things that are not within your job description daily, whether you're comfortable with it or not. I found this to be a disadvantage to students (I am not a math teacher, but was asked to teach math a couple of times, and always with no time to prep). Since you're salaried, you don't receive overtime for working late during conference nights or other events at the school. The hours are long. Work started at 6:30 AM and ended between 5:30 and 6:30 pm. Some teachers stayed longer to get work done. Some of the leadership figures were not considerate of TIRs. You would be put in a room to teach when you haven't actually gained any experience teaching a lesson on your own. I was evaluated on my teaching and taxonomy skills without having followed the protocol for gradual release into the classroom. However leadership has changed since I worked at AF.